silvee



(No Model.)

M. BODY.

PROCESS OF OBTAINING GOLD, SILVER, COPPER, NICKEL, AND COBALT FROM THEIRORES BY ELECTROLYTIC ACT-ION.

No. 333,815. Patented Jan. 5. 1886.

N. FETERS. Phowumu m hun Walhlngion, D. a

'the solution of the metallic particles.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MICHEL BODY, OF LIEGE, BELGIUM.

PROCESS OF OBTAINING GOLD, SILVER, COPPER, NICKEL, AND COBALT FROM THEIRORES BY ELECTROLYTIC ACTION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 333,815, dated January5, 1886.

Application filed June 26,1883, Serial No. 99,297.

(No model.) Patented in Belgium March 31, 1883, No. 60,762, and inEngland May 10, 1883, No. 2,390.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MICHEL BoDY, a citizen of Belgium, residing atLiege, in the Kingdom of Belgium, have invented an Improved Process ofObtaining Gold, Silver, Copper, Nickel, and Cobalt from their Ores byElectrolytic Action, (for which I have obtained a patent in GreatBritain, No. 2,390, dated May 10, 1883, and in Belgium, dated March 31,1883, No. 60,762,) of which the following is a specification. Myinvention relates, first, to the preparation of ores that are to besubjected to electrolytic action; and, secondly, to lixiviating andelectrolytic processes.

The accompanying drawings illustrate a suitable vessel used in carryingout my invention. Figure 1 is a vertical section of the vessel; Fig. 2,a plan thereof.

The preparation of the ores includes the application of the necessarymeans for rendering the metallic particles soluble or more readilysoluble. For this purpose the ores are in the first instance crushed tofine powder, with the admixture of salts that are capable of causing Thesolvents employed are the ferric saltssuch as ferric sulphate and ferricchloride-either alone or mixed with common salt.

The chemical process involved in the lixiviation and separation of themetals from their oxides and sulphur compounds according to thisinvention is based on the reaction to which the acid ferricsalts-namely, the normal ferric salts, all of which show acidreaction-are subjected in the presence of the oxides or sulphurcompounds ofthe metals, in being converted into ferrous salts inparticu' lar, under the influence of electric currents, (which by thismeans effect the separation of the metals) and on the facility withwhich these ferrous salts are 'reconverted into ferric salts, so thatthey can be again used for the same purpose. This process does notexclude the combined action of common salt, which cooperatesadvantageously with the ferric salts in dissolving the chlorides andarsenides of the metals. The ore,placed in a heap, is first wetted andthen left to the action of the atmospheric air, being turned overrepeatedly. The wetting is advantageously effected with the liquors ofspent baths,resulting from the electrolytic process presently to bedescribed, or ordinary salt solution or lyes of chloride of calcium orchloride of magnesium may be used; or the ore can be subjected to arapid roasting process instead of being treated as above, such roastingbeing effected in reverberatory or other furnaces havingcondensing-chambers, which are so useful for the production of thenecessary acids. In this case the ore is afterward again reduced topowder and is then directly subjected to the electrolytic process to bepresently described, without being previously wetted and exposed forsome time to the action of the atmosphere, as in the first case.

The circumstances which determine the use of the one or the other of theabove methods of preparation depend upon the nature of the ores and onthe localities where these operations have to be performed, as also uponthe means which are there available for the pur- 1 After the ore hasbeen prepared in either of the above described ways the electrolyticprocess is applied thereto. According to one method of carrying out suchprocess the ore is placed in a receptacle containing the ferric-saltsolution, together with a solution of common salt. The operations thattake place are as follows: First, the ores are dissolved by the actionof the ferric salts, which are thereby converted into ferrous salts;secondly, the dissolved metal is deposited on the copper plate by theaction of the current; and, thirdly, the chlorine liberated by theelectric current at the carbon pole effects the reconversion of theferrous salts by combining with the base, and any excess of chlorinepassing off in penetrating the above-mentioned ores has an energeticdissolvingaction thereon.

The drawings illustrate a construction of vessel which I prefer to usein carrying out the abovedescribcd process. It is made of Portlandcement, which hasbeen found to be a good non-conductor of electricity,and which is painted inside and outside with a suitable down to within acertain distance from the bottom surface,c,this being coated with alayerof carbon. The openings left below the inner walls are provided withpermeable surfaces at 00, Fig. 1, formed of felt, and the inner surfacesof the outer walls are coated with a layer of carbon, 11. The parts ofthe bottom floor between the outer and inner walls are situated at alower level than the inner floor. The

electrical circuit is connected at one pole with the inner floor, and atthe other pole with the two precipitating-plates X X, suspended in thesmall compartments of the vessel. The solution enters at the floor c ofthe inner compartment, and, after flowing upward and over the tops ofthe inner walls, 1), into the outer compartments, escapes throughopenings 0, near the bottom of these compartments.

By constructing thelower parts ofthe walls 12 of a permeable materialthe current is enabled to pass direct from the electrode 0 to theprecipitating-plates X, instead of having to pass with the liquid overthe tops of the walls b, whereby the precipitating-plates will beenabled to act more effectually in precipitating the metal from thesolution, as such precipitation would otherwise only take place to anyextent at the upper ends of the plates if the electric current onlyfound its way over the walls. By this arrangement the solution issubjected in the best manner to the action of the precipitating-plates,and can be made to permeatein a continuous manner through the ore.Centrally in the inner compartment is a revolving stirrer, e.

The nature of the lye containing the ferric salts employed in theabove-described process will vary according to the nature of the ore tobe treated, and no definite rules as to its composition can therefore begiven.

A suitable lye for the treatment of chlorinated metals is one hundredparts of water to twenty parts of common salt, five parts of persulphateof iron, and five parts of sulphuric acid. The lye may, however, also beused without the common salt when the process is used in connection withchloride ores, and I wish it understood that chlorine is evolved,whether the solution contains chloride or the ore itself is chlorinated.

I layno claim to anything shown, described, and claimed in EnglishPatent No. 2,882 of 1878. The differences between that invention andmine will be apparent on a comparison of the two inventions.

I disclaim herein what is shown and claimed in Letters Patent N 0.291,670, dated January 8, 1884.

What I claim is- 1. The herein-described process of separating gold,silver, copper, and other metals from chlorinated or chlorine-containingores by electrolytic action, consisting in first roasting the ores orsubjecting them to an equivalent oxidizing treatment, as specified, andthen subjecting the ore to the action of ferric-salt solutions, and atthe same time passing an electric current through said solution, wherebythe metal becomes dissolved and precipitated, and chlorine gas isgenerated at the positive pole, which reconverts the resulting ferroussalts into ferric salts, substantially as herein set forth.

2. In the process of separating gold, silver, copper, and other metalsfrom their ores by electrolytic action, the method of dissolving andprecipitating the metal from its ore, and reconverting ferrous saltsinto ferric salt, consisting in subjecting the ore to the action offerric-salt solutions under the influence of an electric current,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses, this 8th day of June, 1883.

MGH. BODY. Witnesses:

L. SAnsoN, A. HEssELs.

